California Biographies
Transcribed by Peggy Hooper
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176
OLE SVENSEN. The lives of some men, mayhap of the majority, are spent in quiet and
contentment, with few events of consequence to any excepting the immediate participants. Not
so, however, with the subject of this sketch, Ole Svensen, whose life record is rich in incident and
experience, reading like a tale of romance, which at times becomes almost tragical. He has lived
and labored in many different countries of the world, has won and lost fortunes, and now, hav-
ing for thirty-five years been associated with the agricultural prosperity of Stanislaus county, is
living retired from active pursuits on his finely improved ranch, lying two miles west of Mo-
desto. A native of Westre Hedemarken, Norway, he was born April 26, 1827, at precisely
seven o'clock and two minutes A. M., a son of Swen Reyerson and Maret Reyerson, both na-
tives of Norway.
At the age of eight years, being dependent upon his own resources, he left home, and while
a youth learned the stone-mason's trade, which he followed until twenty years old. Emigrating
then from Norway, Mr. Svensen sailed for America, landing in New York City, and very
soon after went to Wisconsin, where he had a brother, Christian Svensen. In the same year,
about 1847, m company with ten Americans, he and his brother went to South America to search
for gold, and from there made their first trip to California. Returning to South America, Mr.
Svensen and his companions went to Lima city, Peru, and from there to the Andes mountains,
where, in the ensuing three months, each of the twelve men in the party made $15,000 in mining.
In 1849 Mr. Svensen made his second trip to California, locating in Auburn, Placer county, where
he engaged in mining pursuits. From 1856 until 1858 he was similarly employed in Shasta county,
being very successful. Leaving claims that were then, in 1858, paying him $12 a day, he went to
British Columbia on a prospecting tour. Previous to this time, Mr. Svensen had bought prop-
erty in San Francisco, giving $80,000 for the two and one-half blocks of land lying just back
of the present site of the Palace hotel. This he subsequently sold for $280,000, and it is now
valued at more than $15,000,000.
Six months after his arrival in British Columbia, Mr. Svensen joined a company of seventy
men, with whom he made an extended prospecting trip, traveling through Alaska, and going to
Siberia, where they passed over the Amur province to the great desert of Asia. There the party
were engaged in mining for two and one-half years, during which time terrible privations and
hardships were endured by the few who survived. At times their only food was grass roots and
berries ; even black bear, the only game in that region, being scarce. Out of the seventy men
that left British Columbia, only fourteen returned, the others having perished from exposure,
hardships and starvation, and each of these fourteen men brought back with him from $5,000 to
$10,000, a sum scarce worth mentioning compared with the sufferings they had endured. Mr.
Svensen returned to British Columbia by steamer, from there coming to San Francisco, bringing
with him $18,000 in cash, which was $262,000 less than he had in his pockets when he left Cali-
fornia.
Locating next in Shasta county, Mr. Svensen made $70,000 mining in a short space of time.
With this sum he went to Idaho, where he bought "a claim farm, paying Mr. Dodge $8,000 for the
claim, and put in a dam the following winter, which soon washed out ; subsequently, selling the
claim to a Chinese company for $6,000, he returned to San Francisco. Deciding to turn his
attention to agriculture, he visited different parts of the state, and in 1870 located in Stanislaus
county, buying his present home ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, situated two miles west
of Modesto.- He later bought three hundred and twenty acres additional, but which he subse-
quently sold. For many years thereafter he carried on farming on an extensive scale, at times
renting three thousand acres of land, and in one year, alone, making $10,000 in raising grain. He
continued in active labor until 1898, but since then has rented his ranch, and is now living re-
tired, enjoying the reward of his earlier years of toil. Since he first came to the Pacific coast
wonderful changes have taken place, the luxuries of those early days having become the necessities
of the present time. For the first apple that he ate in the Santa Clara valley he paid $6, and he
has paid as high as $6 for a gallon of milk.
In San Francisco, Mr. Svensen married Rachael Bareg, a native of Norway, and they
have one child, Norwena Elizabeth. Iri his political affiliations Mr. Svensen is independent, vot-
ing with the courage of his convictions. He cast his first presidential vote in favor of James
Buchanan, and has since supported the candidate which he thinks best fitted for the office.